SPRING FLOWER TOUR REPORT

18th-22nd August 2022

Spring comes but once a year and amazingly it happens without any human interference.  From mid-July there is evidence of new growth around the Western Cape.  Little yellow flowers pop up in the area where we live, and this gives us all hope that the Spring season is but around the corner!  This year the Cape winter rains have been slow in coming, which has delayed the flower season slightly.

Yet, when we loaded our coach on Thursday 18^th August there was still hope as we read that the Langebaan area was cloudy with no rain!  Eighteen of us entered the West Coast National Park with barely a queue to get in – we made our way to Postberg but when we went down to our usual coffee stop there was a howling, icy wind, blowing – the group decided to rather forgo the coffee and head straight into the flower section.

Yes, the flowers were evident and beautiful already – as was the usual game viewing in the distance!  Always interesting to hear comments like – “At 2 o’clock on the dial I can see – I think Eland – no gee whiz – they’re Zebra” Lovely to see groups of guinea fowls running through the flowers!

We made our way up to the Langebaan viewpoint – and we were amazed as ‘never in the history of flower tours’ were we the only vehicle up at this point!  Well, it was a Thursday, overcast day, which must have added to crowds staying away from the park.  The group decided it was better to eat our lunch in the coach – a lunch deliciously prepared by 2Can Do Catering in Blouberg – these picnic hampers were so fresh and really enjoyed.  Brian obliged, and set up a coffee station at the front of the coach with Carol back and forth taking ‘orders’

At 3.30 pm we checked into the Darling Lodge Guest House and Maison de L’Amour both in beautiful Darling.  Dinner tonight was at Old Forge Restaurant – also a first as apart from 4 others, our group had private dining with a stunning fire burning!

Next day everyone was ready to head out to Darling Orchids for our 10h00 guided tour.  Fabulous to see another tour group doing a tour as well.  The orchids are fabulous, and the tour was well led by Dominique – after walking through a few hot houses – a few orchids left the orchid store to new homes, and we were on our way to Darling Cellars where numbers of wine tasters increased as time went by!  Their wines also left the cellar to be taken home by the group.

Lunch today was at Marmalade Cat where Sandi and her staff know just how to make a group happy – excellent food, well served!  We ‘did’ Darling Sweet after lunch and, once again, many boxes left the shop to be taken home.  A short visit to Evita se Perron followed – always good to look at the old memorabilia and remember the Apartheid days with the fascinating history that is shared in their museum.

Tonight, the group was treated to a fine dining experience at Kossie Sikelele on the Evita Se Perron premises.  The food prepared by Hentie was beyond good – a very good experience for some of the group who are not used to eating foods like soft poached quails egg coupled with smoked springbok; an eland souffle served with coconut sorbet; date ball ice cream with kumquat preserve ended our fine dining experience! A 7-course experience – must have taken hours to prepare and was excellent, was the general opinion.

The next day dawned with the sun shining brightly as we left Darling – “Hey the sun is hurting my eyes” but we drove the tar road via Malmesbury to Hopefield (“Don’t take a chance with the gravel roads with all the rain we’ve had” warned the locals!)  It was fabulous to join the local crowds in Hopefield at their Saturday market – our group had coffee; pannekoek; and even ate roosterkoek with sausage filling!  We were advised by Mrs Hopefield at the market (she is apparently the ‘expert’ on happenings exactly where to take our coach to see the best flowers) – ‘Hey girls mind the soft mole holes’ – 2 of our group had narrow escapes and fortunately we didn’t meet up with the moles, but we destroyed their burrows!!  Time spent ‘gathering’ at Simply Bee, before we went to a fabulous new Art Gallery called Brickwall Gallery where Cheri has opened a new shop and is living her passion – teaching art during the week and displaying the very best that Hopefield has to offer – art wise!  It is right next to the Hopefield Hotel.

After this the group went to lunch at Hello where it is always very pleasant to eat in Hopefield – Monique and the staff jumped into action as the restaurant was full and our food came out after a while.  Thanks, girls, for feeding the 18 of us despite being so busy!

In the late afternoon we checked into the Saldanha Protea Hotel – a few ladies went for a walk – along the ‘beach’ on the Saldanha bay – and then we all gathered in their lovely lounge sharing stories of the day.  Dinner was buffet style – fortunately our group had almost finished before another flower group of 40 arrived for dinner at 20h00 – but the staff coped well with almost 70 people for dinner – they were still serving others in the main restaurant who chose not to eat the buffet.

Sunday morning and it was Laaiplek to start our morning off – people on our tour were impressed as they believed Brian and I had orchestrated one of the shipping vessels leaving the harbour at the time we arrived!  Fabulous watching these hardened men preparing to go out to sea to make a living.  Bokkom Laan is always fascinating – and a great place to spend some time.  After this we drove the 40 kms to Aurora – not often visited on previous flower tours. We were not disappointed – entering the main road of town we noticed a tortoise slowly waiting to cross the road – great to wait and watch him – the joys of being on holiday with no time limits!  We found a fabulous patch of orange blossoms in town near the church.

Another good find was Koekeloer & Koffiemoer where Ancoise has added to a guest house by erecting a large awning filled with her precious collection of antiques – it blows your mind to see how this has been set up – As Ancoise said she has been a ‘collector’ of antiques her entire life and needed many truck loads to bring everything to Aurora.  A fabulous 2 hours whilst the group enjoyed Toasted Sandwiches on real Farm Bread/ Mussel curry / and Ancoise’s Cheesecake – a delightful time was enjoyed.

We went back to Saldanha deciding not to add Jacobsbaai as it was already after 4.00pm and we were heading out to dinner at 18h00………” Eat, Eat all the time” was what everyone seemed to be saying BUT the food is still consumed at the end of the evening!

Monday morning came and with-it FULL sun – it was decided to head to Paternoster but not to stay there too long as we still had flowers to find!  We spent time at the Crayfish Wharf; The Panty Bar; and The Paternoster Hotel; and some gathering was done (although a few ladies wanted longer to shop – an excuse to come back to Paternoster in the future).

We took the road from Vredenberg to Hopefield, and we were rewarded with good patches of flowers – perhaps the best bushes flowering was the Cape Heather which is so beautiful at present.

A quick lunch at Wimpy in Langebaan and a drop-off at the Blaauwberg Beach Hotel where emotional good-byes were said and as we all know a holiday can’t last forever and the typical saying is “All good things have to eventually come to an end” is SO apt.

DESPITE THE FORECAST LIVE LIKE ITS SPRING – Lilly Pullitzer

This is so apt as 18 people started off not knowing each other but when the tour was over, we all felt so close –

MUST HAVE BEEN BECAUSE SPRING IS IN THE AIR – Carol Coombes.